



^•^0^ 



o «# 








'o V- 



.0 %, 



,0-' V •.-• .<!.^ "^^ -^-o- A" < 















■0 



0^ .i*f. ^> 













a5°-*> 



*•"• ^V 




^^-'^^ 




h^ -*o 






.^■ 












'o v^ 



•o"- 















.^-^. '.^ni^; /"-^^ ».^C^.- ^^-% '• 






'^. <; 






y .. <>. *'• 







•^^0^ 








.^ 







r»-^'. % 




>^ .. 



' O w o ^ -^ 











cV ^ 






PLAYING HAPPY 

AND OTHER POEMS 



BY 
GEORGE FRANCIS CRARY 



D 



PUBLISHED BY 
THE HUTCHINSON BOOK AND ART COMPANY 

HUTCHINSON, KANSAS 



Copyrighted 1910 by ¥, C, George 



& 






©GI.A2791' 4 



~' 



• N 



JjpiFT up my soul, thou strength of life, until my 
>^ spirit touches thine, where dwells the fire that 
gives both life and light, and with the dawn, O Lord 
^.^^ of Light, may I so work that my whole life shall 

blend with thine, and all the universe may know my 

\ spark was kindled at thy forge and so will never fade 
away as does the rose-grey glow with each departing day. 

Inez Dutro George. 



PLAYING HAPPY 

^i Played at being happy yester e'en, 
^ With candles lit and joss sticks as of old, 
I piled to hand the books we love the best, 
The two old glasses filled with wine — to yours 
I touched my lips to mark where you should drink- 
Then read aloud, those well marked passages. 
That served as messages from heart to heart, 
And coaxed our new born love to consciousness. 

I fear I'm over old for make-believe. 
The smoke but filled the dimly lighted room. 
With spectres of an uncongenial mien, 
Both wine and books had lost their potency. 
Your presence like a leaven gave the life — 
Without it, incense, candles, books and wine, 
But drear reminders of the might-have-been. 
My playing wasn't happy yester e'en. 

I'll not play being happy any more, 

But try to live the moments as they come. 

If sweet the past, 'twas living made it so. 

If then instead of playing I but live, 

I'll find each moment filled with happiness. 

I might have saved myself some doleful hours. 

Had I remembered love's unceasing flow 

And lived instead of playing yester e'en. 



SONG 

/|TAN there be song in heaven? Then heaven's no 

^J^ more 

Than this life on perhaps some higher plane. 

It cannot be a place of perfect joy, 

Where all desire is satisfied at last, 

Or why the song? 

For song's the voice of longing, 'tis the cry 
Wrung from the heart by pain of great desire — 
The hopeful mate-call, or the moan of loss, 
The mate once found, there comes a silence then 
More sweet than song. 



LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP 

tE labor best 'neath your ardent rays, 
Source of our energy, radiant star. 
Roused by the touch of your quickening fire, 
Labors of Hercules daunt us not, 
O Glorious Sun! 

But spent with labor and torn by care 

We rest in your soft reflected light, 

Our wounds are healed and our strength renewed 

By the soothing touch of your mellowed rays, 

O Quiet Moon! 

After the strife of the heat of day, 
After the quest of a vain pursuit. 
As the darkness falls, we turn to you 
For a quiet hour, for a restful hour, 
O Faithful Friend! 



OUR CURFEW 

J?2^CH night when comes the hour of nine, 
T^ Where e'er it chance to find me, 
I bow my head in silent prayer 
For you — dear one. 

Once evening found us side by side 
In ever sweet communion, 
And now when comes that hour again 
Of you — I think. 

Our paths have lead divergently, 
It seems I've almost lost you — 
Until each night at nine o'clock 
You're mine — again. 

Night often finds me burdened sore, 
And bitterness would claim me, 
Did not your presence make that hour 
So sweet — to me. 



JOY 

[HEN at the cost of agonizing tears 
The heart's desire is realized at last, 
When joy is purchased like mere merchandise 
Or great renunciation ends in gain, 
Can we find pleasure in possession then? 

Nay, joy that's joy must come spontaneous, free, 
The jasmine's far flung scent, the wild bird's song. 
Ambitious dawn or restful twilight glow, 
As these come so must joy; or else in vain. 



DOUBT 

/|Pk Friend! How have I sought within thy soul 

vl/ For that illusive complement I lack! 

At times I seem to see my Great Desire 

With hands outstretched to meet my eager grasp, 

Or coyly coaxing like a child at play, 

Then, as my dearest wish seems realized, 

Dark night and baffling silence intervene. 

Does she in truth abide within thy soul, 

This fair entrancing Vision of Delight? 

Is yours the sheltering depth where she may dwell, 

Or but deceptive shallows that reflect. 

As in a glass, the vision of my dreams? 



DANTE TO BEATRICE 

2C0W futile metes and bounds to stay the heart! 

^^ I in my narrow cell of duty held, 

You hedged about by ever watchful eyes, 

May laugh to scorn precaution's useless care. 

No circumstance, no custom, creed or law 

Can bar the passage of my out-flung song, 

Nor still the answering quiver of your heart. 

The outward seeming calm indifference 

Turns not the deeper vision of my soul. 

Despite it all I look within and see 

What other eyes than mine have never known— 

Your inner life's entrancing loveliness. 

'Tis mine by right of conquest. Shall I yield 

Possession of my great discovery? 

Once love like mine had prompted valiant deeds 

In tournament or battle's bloody strife; 

I may not place my trust in sinewed strength, 

Or seek to circumvent by cunning wiles. 

My song my only hope, and this I match 

'Gainst all the world, or friend or foe, to win 

An entrance to this heart of hearts I know. 



THE LOST MATE 

j3fc IKG little bird, pour out the liquid notes! 
^ Sing on and on and help make glad the world! 
They think your wondrous song is born of joy, 
Nor seem to know you're calling to your mate — 
Forever vainly calling to a mate. 
Whose answering note can never reach your ear. 

And may I also gladden this old world 

With joyous song, while I in truth like you 

Forever vainly call an absent love. 

I know 'tis but an echo that returns. 

Yet hope assures me all this outpoured gong 

Will bring some sweet reward to you and me. 



AT DAWN 

/^HIS day when Death and Failure, Want and Woe, 
^^ Seem hedging me about on every side, 
I know to be the day of days to me, 
The day I'll count as my true natal day. 

The world says Death came stalking in the door — 
It saw but somber robes and bony hands. 
I saw an angel clothed in heavenly light. 
Who said, ''My name is Everlasting Life." 

The world says Failure swept my meager store, 
That my great need has fallen on ill times. 
I know ''Man doth not live by bread alone," 
And only now has plenty come to me. 

The world says grievous Care has bound my hands, 
That lonesomeness and drudgery are mine. 
1 know that Joy and Freedom fill my heart. 
As comes the dawn to my new-opened eyes. 



TIME AND PLACE 

JCEREIISI, O Time and Place! I now declare 

1^ My independence of your rule! — I who 

For long to your twin despotism bowed. 

How oft I coveted your seeming wealth 

And felt some great achievement would be mine 

Could I but seek that genial atmosphere 

Where ample leisure waits the ready hand. 

As if to punish this presumptuous thought, 

You filled my every hour with menial tasks 

And bound me to a narrow dreary round; 

You razed my fondest castles to ti»e ground 

With clamorous din that seemed the wreck of worlds. 

Then in the after hush I heard a voice 

And understood some little of the words — 

''Heir of the Infinite! Eternity 

Is yours! Time cannot circumscribe your work — 

'Tis no more than a swinging pendulum, 

And Place — mere term by which we designate 

Position relative to other things, 

And what have you, the Soul, to do with things? 

These not the implements with which you work. 

What if these hands of yours are more than filled, 

Your feet restricted to a beaten path — 

Are you then nothing more than hands and feet, 

A mere machine and regulating brain? 

Let hands and feet and brain co-operate 

To work for all these things material, 

But yoi/, the individual consciousness. 

That holds unbroken through material change. 

Can you not smile at all their puerile strife. 

And labor midst it all, calm and serene?" 



And this has proved a magic talisman 

To free me from your rule, O Time and Place! 

And now the more your lashes hiss about, 

The more, in proof of their futility. 

Come forth the greater labors of the soul. 

In vain all this tumultous turbulence 

That seems to implicate my every act. 

You see me ever busied, nor can know 

The excellence of that cool inner room 

Where now I find that haven I sought without. 



'TWAS YOU 

^^rWAS jou who raised again my sinking hands, 

^^ And turned the tide of battle, when before 
The day seemed lost, the host of enemies 
Unconquerable. My glance accompanying 
The uplifted hands beheld, massed on my side. 
The calm sure legions of Omnipotence. 

And now I find you sore besieged and haste 
To turn my strengthened arm to your support, 
Eager to fight, though I must be content 
To point the truth, for there before your eyes, 
Where seems the unimpeded enemy. 
Stands even now your all-sufficient help. 



TWILIGHT 

fOU know the mountain twilight — how the sun, 
Down dropped beyond the snow range, leaves behind 
A landscape touched by magic mistiness, 
Which liberates the spirit from the form, 
Till gorge and canyon, wooded slope and peak. 
Become a variant host, wherein your thought 
Finds, as you will, a doleful company. 
Or joyful comradeship. 

Love wings its course from out the hopeful east. 
Till hid at last by Fate's relentless range, 
Naught but a lingering twilight stays the night. 
But in this mellowing glow there stands revealed 
A spirit throng that may at first present 
A fearful mein^ but closer seen will prove 
Angelic heralds come to turn your thought 
Back to the east again. 



I WONDER 

j[J Wonder — could we love without the pain, 

31 Without the strife and effort to attain? 

If there were no separation 

Would we miss the consolation 

When our loss is swallowed up again in gain? 

Does rending of the heart strings make us grow. 

Or good — because the tearing pains us so? 

And does all this laceration 

Find an ample compensation 

In the little bit of happiness we know? 

Our tendency is toward a higher state 

Where ultimate perfection seems to wait, 

But until that dispensation 

Abrogates all computation 

Can we ever count the cost of love too great? 



APPRECIATION 

/|THE song that touched jour heart — know you it came 
w' From out the dark cold depths of soltitude, 
As springs the lily from the noisome slime? 
For song or flower to reach the light of day, 
Know you the cost? 

But see! Your smile, your tear dimmed eyes, your 

voice — 
Expressive of your heart's responsiveness, 
Have cleared my consciousness of aught but joy, 
If there was any cost to compensate, 
'Tis all forgot. 

Let me be conscious of unvarying love, 
As constant as the sun — though night or cloud 
May sometimes seem to say it is no more — 
Then like the lillies will the songs unfold 
All joyfully. 



OcD 2BmQ 



Done into form by the 

Arlington Enterprise 

Arlington, Kansas 



H2i: 



-n 





4? 





















■^^ 






^^^"^^ 



c 










■^t^ 



bV" 












^°-* 




''**'* '■ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procesj 
c Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 







° . Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 

PreservationTechnologiei 



A' 



A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATIOI 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 



